Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit to Ukraine is moving again behind the scenes. He is negotiating with Ukrainian diplomatic authorities to leave Japan on the 31st of this month and enter the capital, Kyiv, via Poland. In addition to holding a summit meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, he is planning to visit a battleground near Kyiv to offer flowers to the victims, the official said. Prime Minister Kishida seriously considered visiting Ukraine three times, in June and December last year and in February this year, but gave up due to security and other problems. Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Ukraine in February, a year after...

The administration of Fumio Kishida is in a state of limbo. In less than a month, the Cabinet reshuffled three ministers, including Economic Revitalization Minister Daishiro Yamagiwa, Justice Minister Yasuhiro Hanashi and Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Minoru Terada, and approval ratings for the Cabinet plummeted. Prime Minister Kishida, who won the upper house election in July, has been touted as enjoying a “golden three years” until the next lower house election, but the resignation domino has dramatically shifted the political situation. Encouraged opposition parties are targeting reconstruction minister Kenya Akiba, who has been criticized for his opaque handling of office expenses. Under tense circumstances, jaw-dropping information poured in. “Kishida...

The Asahi Shimbun Company notified its labor union on June 30 of its plan to recruit “more than 200” voluntary retirees from September to November for employees aged 45 or older. Following last year’s (111 applicants) voluntary retirement program, the company aims to realize a system of 3800 employees at the end of fiscal 2023 based on the current medium-term management plan. The company posted a net profit in fiscal 21 for the first time in two years, compared with the previous year, when it posted its biggest loss since its foundation. However, while the number of copies sold has been decreasing at a pace of 400,000 copies a year,...

May 23, 2022 In Japan, the end of the ordinary Diet session is less than a month away. Meanwhile, an unprecedented scandal broke out in Nagatacho. This is a sexual harassment scandal involving House of Representatives Speaker Hiroyuki Hosoda. He is 78 years old. Hosoda has been making a lot of gaffes lately. He said that the annual expenses for House of Representatives members’ activities are 1 million yen a month, but he recognized that the amount was small, which provoked a backlash from the public, who are worried about their daily lives. Facta, a monthly magazine, reported the new allegations. That is sexual harassment. Hosoda’s actions, as well as...

1921 (Taisho 10) Saturday, November 26 The statesman Ito Tomoya died. He died early at the age of 48. On April 10, 1873, Tomoya Ito was born as the first son of Seiki Ito, a well-known local physician in Sakata City, Yamagata Prefecture. His father, Kiyomoto ITO, was originally the third son of Mondo SUWA, a feudal retainer of Sendai Domain, but he studied Western studies in Edo, studied medicine under “Ito Genboku” and “Ito Bokusai,” who were famous disciples of Siebold, and was adopted by Hokusai ITO after he moved to Tsuruoka and opened a business there in 1868. At that time, cholera was frequently prevalent and caused many...

1921 (Taisho 10) Tuesday, November 22 The state-of-the-art battleship Mutsu built at the Yokosuka Navy Yard has been handed over to the Navy. The handover ceremony was held and he was registered in Sasebo Chinju-fu. Mutsu was the second ship of the Nagato-class battleship that we met at that time. In 1907, after the Russo-Japanese War, the first 2 ships of the 88 Squadron Project, which en 40 visaged the US Navy as a hypothetical enemy, were these 2 Nagato-type battleships. For budgetary support, the Imperial Diet expanded the fleet to 84 in 1916, 86 in 1918, and 88 in 1920. However, considering that the total expenditure of the Japanese...

1921 (Taisho 10) Thursday, November 17 Crown Prince Hirohito appeared in Hino and Hachioji to inspect a special army exercise. The Army Special Exercise is a military exercise conducted by the Army under the control of the Emperor. It was held every fall for 4 days. It was a large-scale one where more than two divisions fought against each other, and the people’s interest was high. The first meeting was held in 1892 (Meiji 25), and a total of 34 meetings were held until 1936 (Showa 11), the year before the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War. In 1921, the Army held special 10 exercises in Tokyo, Kanagawa and Saitama. It...

1921 (Taisho 10) Monday, November 14 Toshiko Yamane, Japan’s first female diplomat, was born in Sapporo. Her father was Jinshin YAMANE, a livestock scientist who was an assistant professor at Hokkaido Imperial University at that time. She was born the youngest of three brothers and sisters. Her brother is Otohiko Yamane, who inherited the research of his father Jinshin and later became a professor at the Faculty of Agriculture of Tottori University. Her father Yamane Jinshin transferred from Hokkaido Imperial University to Taipei Imperial University to become a professor. So they moved to Taiwan. In April 1934, she entered Taipei State High School for Girls at the age of 12....

1921 (Taisho 10) Sunday, November 13 Korekiyo Takahashi was appointed as the 20th Prime Minister and the Takahashi Cabinet was formed. It was called the “Inuki Cabinet” in which all the cabinet members remained as the successor to the assassinated Takashi Hara Cabinet. Prime Minister Takahashi doubled as Minister of Finance. He also became the fourth president of the ruling Seiyukai Party. Takahashi Korekiyo is not a party politician. However, in 1913, the third Taro KATSURA cabinet collapsed amid the growing movement to protect the constitution, and when he joined the next Gonbei YAMAMOTO cabinet as finance minister, he accepted Prime Minister YAMAMOTO’s persuasion and decided to join the party....

1921 (Taisho 10) The Washington Conference was held on Friday, November 11. It was an international conference that was held in Washington, the capital of the United States, on February 6 of the following year at the request of the President of the United States, Warren Harding. In addition to Japan and the United States, nine countries, including Britain, France, Italy and China, are participating. There were three items on the agenda. It’s as follows. (1) Naval disarmament, (2) Far East issues, and (3) Pacific issues. The Japanese side was responsible for the first topic (1) Vice Admiral Tomosaburo Kato, the Japanese plenipotentiary, for naval disarmament, and the remaining (2)...